Book Beat Babes

Thursday, April 28, 2016

The hubby and I are planning the logistics of our next trip to the cottage in Wisconsin. Much has happened since the last time we vacationed. The saddest of all was the deterioration of our Amstaff, Rascal, whom we'd loved for almost eleven years, and who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in November.

Happiest, was the addition of our Miniature Pinscher, Buster,whom we adopted shortly thereafter to take our minds off our loss, and to provide a home for an animal in need.

Rascal was getting up in years and had been with us since a puppy. She knew what was accepted and what wasn't. Two-and-a-half year old Buster, on the other hand, still needs training, although I must say, he does very well in obedience classes.Also, he's very adept at giving us kisses.

Anyway, we're figuring out our strategies ahead of time to keep our little animal safe, so we can all have a good time. When we're away from the cottage, we may need to put him in one of the bedrooms and close the door. That sounds like a possible solution, but, there are other matters to consider, such as blocking off any targets of exploration in that room, such as under the bed, where objects are stored. Then there's the dresser, above which is the TV, and underneath runs the cable and electric wires. We'll set up barriers and see if that will work. Otherwise, we may need to resort to placing him in a crate when we're gone.

Of course, we'll also need to keep him company and make him feel at home in the new environment, along with addressing his physical needs, such as walks, food and water.

Why am I mentioning this on a book blog? When writing fiction, it's important to make fiction seem authentic and believable. I enjoy reading books where dogs are included, and I also like watching movies where a pet plays a small or large role. However, often it seems a dog is added merely for decorative or emotional purposes, and the logistics of dog ownership are absent.

Matters such as where a pet is allowed to stay in the home and the reasons are not always revealed to the reader. What's even more irksome is when a book character gets up, and no mention is made about seeing to the animal's needs. Let the poor dog out, please, and give it some food and water!

Instead, the book character leaves and goes about life trying to solve a mystery, or falling in love. Then, later, when the character deigns to come home, whatever time that may be, the animal sometimes is greeted, other times ignored, along with its needs.

So, if you decide to add a dog or other pet in your book, remember that I and other pet owners are not happy if an imaginary animal is treated poorly. I beg you, when including a dog or other pet in your book, remember the logistics of pet ownership.

R.I.P. Rascal - Here she is in her younger years in the backyard with Morgan Mandel.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Today, we said 'good-bye' to a musical genius, Prince Roger Nelson. I remember him as Prince. "Mom! It's Prince, turn up the radio." And Raspberry Beret would blast through the speakers as we drove down the road. It was 1985 and my daughters loved Prince, or later, the musician, Formerly Known as Prince. It wasn't until 2000 that Prince got his name back. The dispute over his name escapes me now, but it was a BIG deal back in the '90s. Something about copyrights and money!

I always worried my girls would all too easily understand the meaning behind that song. I suppose they did eventually. But the song drew vivid imaginings in my mind, I'm sure it did many young women. A young man and woman in an empty barn ... and a raspberry beret!

Purple Rain, was the other big hit, I remember. It hit the charts in 1984. Saying good-bye and moving on was the theme to that song and I'm pretty sure I knew that one by heart, too. Please don't tell my daughters!
I always pretended not to like him too much.

Prince won seven Grammy Awards and had thirty nominations. Five of his singles topped the charts and fourteen others hit the Top 10. Prince is an Oscar Winner for best original song for Purple Rain.

We had an upsurge of Prince in the early 2000's when my granddaughters discovered Raspberry Beret. I'm sure their mother had a lot to do with that. It felt as if I'd gone back in time when I heard from the back seat, "Grammie, put in the cd with Purple Rain." And then, "Let's listen to it again!" A new generation with just as much enthusiasm for this musical icon had modern technology to feed their impulses. On any given outing, I heard Purple Rain some dozen times. Okay, maybe not that many, but it was a lot!

When a performer stretches beyond the generations, one knows they are listening to perfection. Prince had so many wonderful songs, always with a story. They were sexy, devout or fun. Sometimes all three in one song. He was a legend. He was a hero in our house. And he will be missed.

Heaven is singing tonight! It's bound to be a fabulous time. I imagine there will be a lot of purple!

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

I got inspired by a 50% off deal from Wix.com. I already had one website from them, which is Morgan Does Chick Lit.Com, and decided it was time to devote a separate website to my dark side, the one that compels me to write mysteries

So, yesterday, Morgan Does Mystery.Com was officially born. Nothing too fancy, just enough to get the word out about my mysteries without boring readers. Also, I happened to like the template background, which seemed kind of mysterious to me.

If you get a chance, I invite you to check out my official mystery website. If you haven't popped over yet to my romance/chick lit one, by all means you're welcome there as well.

Friday, April 1, 2016

There have been a number of stories in the news about parents of
soldiers who’ve been killed in the recent wars wanting access to their child’s
email accounts and not being able to obtain it due to privacy laws.As a result there is also an increased
awareness of planning for what happens to your digital assets after you pass
away.More and more financial advisors and
estate planners are recommending that all of us identify our digital assets in
our estate.With online bill paying and
paperless communications this is a real concern for those left behind to deal
with our estate and in some cases clean up our messes.

For writers it’s especially important to address their
digital assets because some of these may have monetary value to the estate, not
the least of which is the domain name for the writer’s website.Questions such as renewing the domain name
registration, maintaining the website and by whom both of these tasks are done
need to be identified.It’s becoming
clearer and clearer that most writers don’t have a plan of action for these
tasks. Keep in mind that there are laws at both the federal and state levels that need to be considered which is why it's best to work with an experienced legal expert on digital estate issues.

In the past few years several of my writer acquaintances
have passed away, some suddenly, some as a result of a long illness and it’s a
very haunting experience to receive a spam email from one of their email
addresses.Obviously, they aren’t
sending the emails but it does bring to mind the need to make sure that
somebody is identified to either maintain the writer’s digital presence or to
gently shut it down.

For more guidance on planning for the digital portion of
your estate the following links are suggested: